Selling Out Your Events By ASKING Your Prospects What They Want

It’s almost May and I’ve already attended 7 events in 2011 and all of these events had a healthy number of people in attendance. One thing surprised me though— none of these events used this one strategy that can totally capitalize on filling your event AND also help you plan your event, speakers, activities, etc.

This strategy is so simple, it’s basically creating a survey and sending it out to everyone who’s registered for the event. I just did this for Alex Mandossian and we found out some terrific insightful information that we wouldn’t have known without asking these pertinent questions. Plus the answers we received will go a long way to planning a stellar event that our attendees asked for. In other words, we can use this fact in our marketing saying something like— “You asked for it, we’re delivering the content and giving you what you wanted to create an incredibly successful business at our event….”

The real key in creating a survey before the event to send out to those who’ve registered is have a goal of what you want to accomplish for the survey. Maybe you want to get content ideas, speakers, or want to find out what to upsell them at the event, or you want to find out price points, or get their feedback on extra outside activities.

After you know your goal, then you can start creating your questions. My rule of thumb is to have about 10 -15 questions. Start off with simple, easy questions, then move into the more complex questions. I also do a variety of multiple choice, ranking and open ended questions.

Here’s some terrific examples of questions you can use in your survey:

What is your most pressing challenge in your work/business right now? You can make up multiple choice answers for them to check off, or you can simple ask them to write down their comments.

We are looking at the kind of training we’re offering and want to provide you with the most helpful format(s) and resources to help you solve the biggest challenge you’re facing right now. Please select the options MOST desirable for you. (Choose all that apply)

Would you be interested in participating in a live 20 minute business “hot seat” during the event?

Yes
No

If Yes, please tell me a little bit about your business, and what some of the challenges your facing, and how you think a hot seat could help you.

What’s the single most important thing you hope to get out of our event

Another advanced strategy is sending out a survey to EVERYONE on your list before you even launch your event to ask them pre-event questions. This is a terrific strategy because you’re basically “seeding” your event beforehand. By asking them to help you answer your survey, you’re also looking to get their buy in before you launch the event to raise their hand and sign up. I’ve seen Bill Glazer use this strategy very successfully to fill Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle Super Conference event.

Whatever you decide to send out a survey to pre-launch your event, or to simply get feedback after they’ve registered, creating a survey and sending it out is a fantastic way to ramp up your event, help fill it, and make it more profitable for you and your company.

If you want to discover more about how to use surveys in your business, check out this webinar I did with my good friend Stephen Beck. I give you some fantastic ideas on how to use surveys to create a much more successful business.